Justice League Unlimited – Episodes – Season 3, Episode 7 – Patriot Act

When an out of control super soldier threatens Metropolis, Green Arrow leads seven non-powered Justice Leaguers, including Crimson Avenger and
Shining Knight, in a battle they can?t hope to win.

Review by Stu
Media by Bird Boy

Voices:
J.K. Simmons as General Eiling
Chris Cox as Shining Knight
Kin Shriner as Green Arrow
Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern
Nathan Fillion as Vigilante
Michael Beach as Mr. Terrific
Giselle Loren as Stargirl
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
Mike Erwin as Speedy
Tara Strong as Johnny
Jeff Bennett as Rick Wilson

This episode may very well be considered a treat to some of the hardcore DC comics fans, as it features a lot of unknown heroes that usually had the honor of a line or two for every dozen walk by cameos they appeared in. For those of are only familiar with them from previous episodes of this show, it all depends on whether or not you actually care about them. I happen to think Vigilante is pretty cool, but the main plot of the episode works against this ?B stringer? episode.

It?s probably just unfortunate that this episode comes straight after
Dead Reckoning, because it?s a basically a big fight episode, in vein of
Doomsday Sanction, only the people who are fighting the brute in the episode are so hopelessly outmatched you wonder why they even bothered to show up. With a show on the scale of JLU, I really don?t mind these big monster fights as Joaquim dos Santos is absolutely fabulous at directing these epic encounters, but the problem here is that he has nothing to work with. Superman, Captain Marvel and Batman he can work wonders with, but having Green Arrow, Vigilante and Stargirl fighting a bullet proof monster simply made for a tedious brawl and yet another bland script from Matt Wayne left this in the forgettable pile.

I think my main disappointment with the episode is that there wasn?t just a little lost potential? there was a staggering amount. The aforementioned epic fight was one thing, but this episode was probably as close as we?re going to get to a Cadmus follow up and it was pretty much wasted. I never really felt for the General?s plight like I did for
Waller?s last season and after using the Super Soldier formula on himself, my only reaction was ?What a dumb ass?. Speaking of Ultimate
Hulk, the conclusion to his story absolutely sucked. Now, he?d been treated as an intelligent character before, and his taking the serum was a pretty stupid thing to do and then to be stopped by some old woman who was only stating the bloody obvious to begin with? Pretty poor writing all together, it?s a shame, I thought Wayne had really found his footing with Flash and Substance.

Eiling’s Hulking character was actually based on a villain from the comics in a recent JLA arc but was simply poorly done here. Him jumping off at the end simply had me wondering how this got passed planning stages. A bad episode is a bad episode, you can?t win them all, but this story works against itself far too much.

Badly written stories are one thing, but the sheer amount of cheese in this episode will no doubt have fans suffering from flashbacks to ?I?ve
Got Batman In My Basement? with the little kids helping out the heroes.
I?m sorry, but where the hell does a kid learn how to use a crane and hit his target with pinpoint accuracy? From a show that?s got a strong number of adult viewers one does wonder how this made it as far as it did.

Undoubtedly one of JLU?s worst. Comparing it to the previous two episodes is the same as laughing at it.